After reading the reviews here I wanted to add my thoughts. I stumbled across "The Devil's Arithmetic" while watching the True Movie channel her in the UK. I haven't heard of the book, but when I heard the description of the film I thought it would be worth watching, especially for I thought, Kristen Dunst and Brittany Murphy.
The viewer has to keep a few things in mind. First, the movie is clearly intended for a young audience. I can see that Hannah and Rivka were younger in the book than they are in the movie: about 11, one reviewer said. They do seem younger than teenagers but I thought that was to appeal more to younger viewers. Also, the ties to "The Wizard of Oz" are clearer and stronger if Hannah and Rivka were meant to be the same age as Dorothy.
Second, I was also annoyed by the Polish characters' bad accent and the commander's clipped movie German accent (It turns out that the actor who plays the commander is British). American movies usually get around the problem of characters supposedly speaking different languages by having the characters speak with heavy accents. I accepted that Rivka was speaking Polish (or Yiddish) while the commander was speaking German. We see the events through Hannah's eyes and so we hear accented English.
Third, I didn't find the historical accuracy of the film unbelievable. I was annoyed by the early scenes after Hannah wakes up in Poland. Rifka tells Hannah (and the audience) that she is in Poland in 1941. So, I thought, the village must be in eastern Poland. Most of the Jews in Poland under German occupation in 1941 were living in ghettos enforced by the Nazis. However, eastern Poland was under Russian jurisdiction. Surely the villagers would recognise the Nazis immediately – but it's Hannah who announces to the audience that the Nazis are invading the village; the Rabbi recognises the danger immediately and encourages the groom to break the wedding glass quickly. The Nazis killed numerous Jewish communities in the East in 1941 by shooting them. However, during this period they began to test other forms of eliminating Jewish populations. The camp that Rifka's community was sent to wasn't named in the movie. It was small and seemed newly built. I thought that Hannah, Rifka and the other prisoners were being put to work to expand the camp, to build more barracks and more crematoria. Gassing of prisoners began in 1941 and so its probable that the camp crematorium and gassing chamber were built and being used while Rifka and Hannah are prisoners, especially if Hannah is sent to the crematorium after Passover- this would mean spring of the following year, 1942. The only thing I found hard to believe was how Rifka survived in the camp until after the war ended, particularly if she was ill before Hannah was selected for execution. If she was already ill how could she survive for another three years? But this is left to the audience to surmise: it could be she escaped from the camp, or was transferred somewhere else, or was assigned less physically demanding work such as sorting clothes.
I was still annoyed by Hannah waking up with all her family around her – in black and white yet. Like one reviewer said, I was waiting for Toto to jump into her arms. Comparing Dorothy's adventure in Oz to the horrors of the Holocaust is slight, but the scene that follows with Hannah telling Aunt Eva she now clearly sees the importance of her heritage is very moving. Kristen Dunst portrays well how Hannah reacts and adapts to monstrous circumstances and Brittany Murphy is convincing and heartbreaking as Rifka, despite her clichéd accent. "The Devil's Arithmetic" moved me although I'm an adult who has seen many films and read many books about the Holocaust. While it is clearly intended for a young audience, it is an engrossing movie for all ages.
The viewer has to keep a few things in mind. First, the movie is clearly intended for a young audience. I can see that Hannah and Rivka were younger in the book than they are in the movie: about 11, one reviewer said. They do seem younger than teenagers but I thought that was to appeal more to younger viewers. Also, the ties to "The Wizard of Oz" are clearer and stronger if Hannah and Rivka were meant to be the same age as Dorothy.
Second, I was also annoyed by the Polish characters' bad accent and the commander's clipped movie German accent (It turns out that the actor who plays the commander is British). American movies usually get around the problem of characters supposedly speaking different languages by having the characters speak with heavy accents. I accepted that Rivka was speaking Polish (or Yiddish) while the commander was speaking German. We see the events through Hannah's eyes and so we hear accented English.
Third, I didn't find the historical accuracy of the film unbelievable. I was annoyed by the early scenes after Hannah wakes up in Poland. Rifka tells Hannah (and the audience) that she is in Poland in 1941. So, I thought, the village must be in eastern Poland. Most of the Jews in Poland under German occupation in 1941 were living in ghettos enforced by the Nazis. However, eastern Poland was under Russian jurisdiction. Surely the villagers would recognise the Nazis immediately – but it's Hannah who announces to the audience that the Nazis are invading the village; the Rabbi recognises the danger immediately and encourages the groom to break the wedding glass quickly. The Nazis killed numerous Jewish communities in the East in 1941 by shooting them. However, during this period they began to test other forms of eliminating Jewish populations. The camp that Rifka's community was sent to wasn't named in the movie. It was small and seemed newly built. I thought that Hannah, Rifka and the other prisoners were being put to work to expand the camp, to build more barracks and more crematoria. Gassing of prisoners began in 1941 and so its probable that the camp crematorium and gassing chamber were built and being used while Rifka and Hannah are prisoners, especially if Hannah is sent to the crematorium after Passover- this would mean spring of the following year, 1942. The only thing I found hard to believe was how Rifka survived in the camp until after the war ended, particularly if she was ill before Hannah was selected for execution. If she was already ill how could she survive for another three years? But this is left to the audience to surmise: it could be she escaped from the camp, or was transferred somewhere else, or was assigned less physically demanding work such as sorting clothes.
I was still annoyed by Hannah waking up with all her family around her – in black and white yet. Like one reviewer said, I was waiting for Toto to jump into her arms. Comparing Dorothy's adventure in Oz to the horrors of the Holocaust is slight, but the scene that follows with Hannah telling Aunt Eva she now clearly sees the importance of her heritage is very moving. Kristen Dunst portrays well how Hannah reacts and adapts to monstrous circumstances and Brittany Murphy is convincing and heartbreaking as Rifka, despite her clichéd accent. "The Devil's Arithmetic" moved me although I'm an adult who has seen many films and read many books about the Holocaust. While it is clearly intended for a young audience, it is an engrossing movie for all ages.